House of Glass
by een nihc
Summary: If life doesn't give you a happy ending, you have to create one yourself.


Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto.

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><p><strong>House of Glass<strong>

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><p>This is not a love story.<p>

It doesn't take a pair of Byakugan to see that the master in the Hyuuga house doesn't love his wife while his wife secretly loves another man. Their wedding might be the most prestigious wedding in Konoha village; their marriage however was just a pretty shell without soul.

Hiashi was dying. The clan needed to elect another head to lead them. Unsuprisingly, Neji was the second in line. All he had to do was to marry one of Hiashi's daughters to legimate himself as a member of the Main branch. If he had to choose between Hinata and Hanabi, it would be Hinata hands down. No one would argue with that.

Neji knew what would happen if he refused the proposal - Hinata would be marked with the Branch house cursed seal and married off to some filthy rich daimyo. Her younger sister, Hanabi would be elected as the head of Hyuuga clan instead of him and all hell would break loose.

Fate is a royal bitch. Either way, they were both fucked. But it didn't mean that he was happy with it. And his teammates were not happy with it either. Acting as the head of clan meant that he would resign from all active post and his team will be disbanded as well. He could no longer see his teammates as freely as he used to and vice versa.

Tenten didn't attend his wedding. She didn't congratulate or bid him farewell either before she left to be transferred to a long term reconciliation mission at Iwa village.

"_Do we mean nothing to you? Do you even care if I leave?" Tenten asked. Her voice was trembling like a leaf in the wind and her tears falling like droplets of rain. That was the first time Neji ever saw her cried. She has always been a strong kunoichi but she didn't guard her heart against him. Neji closed his eyes and waited for her to slap him across the face because he is a bastard that deserved it. Instead she left without another word. He is worse than a bastard after all. If afterwards Neji tore down the training ground that he used to trained with Tenten like a hurricane, nobody dared to say anything (at least not to his face). _

Lee being Lee congratulated Neji on being ahead of him once again in achieving the next stage of his manhood but Neji easily noticed the way his eyes darted uneasily to Gai sensei's direction. Gai sensei's heavy hand rested on his shoulder and for once, his face was straight and serious when he quietly asked Neji to promise him one thing before his wedding – one thing in the entire universe that Neji never expected him to ask.

_A man can either choose the one he loves or loves the one he choose. Whoever you choose to be with, don't break her heart. _

_I've already broken one, Gai sensei. _

_Then don't break another._

It was a promise that he knew he couldn't keep. They were all broken. He was going to keep breaking himself until there was nothing left to break.

Neji walked down the aisle numbly and took his bride's hand. And it felt like attending his own funeral than his wedding. He knew the bride besides him felt the same. He didn't know whether it made him felt better or worse.

He didn't touch her on their wedding night nor the following nights. They slept on separate futons in a mutual, silent agreement. He filled his days with mundane routine that came with his new set of responsibilities as a clan head and trained at night until he was so exhausted that the moment his head touched the pillow, he would fall asleep. That way he could avoid looking into those gentle, pearl eyes of his pseudo-wife that kept asking him why he did this to himself and pleaded him to stop.

_I don't hate you._

Hinata said it in her delicate, quiet way when she helped him get dress although he insisted on doing it himself; when she prepared his meals only to empty the tray later when he chose to eat plain rice balls instead of her wholesome three-course meal; when she prepared hot bath water for him only to find that he took cold water shower instead. Yet, it was not enough. He had downright refused all her kindness and hospitality.

The house they lived in was big and cold and suffocating like a glass house. A house where one false move would send its glass shatterred and hurt everyone who lived in it. A house where it was so transparent that it was painful to watch what was going on inside. But no one would acknowledge what they saw in that house.

Until one night, Hinata went missing. She left a note behind.

_Don't worry and don't look for me. I'll set both of us free._

They've searched everywhere for her. Akamaru has picked up her scent near a river but it was Naruto who found her drowning herself in the river and brought her unconscious body back to the Hyuuga compound.

Naruto was furious to say the very least. His blue eyes blazed with a tint of red as he grabbed Neji's collar and demanded an answer from that pale face man.

"Teme, what the hell did you do to Hinata that makes her wants to kill herself?"

Neji pursed his lips into a thin line. He said nothing. He didn't want to lie to his friend.

In return, he received a solid punch connected to his jaw. Just like all those years ago in their first Chunnin exam, that punch had sent him falling backwards and hit the hard floor.

"Answer me, bastard. Why don't you fucking say anything?"

Naruto didn't relent as he pinned the dark haired man on the floor with his weight, fist threathening to strike again. That idiot never knew when to give up. Suddenly the Hyuuga clan head chuckled and his voice more bitter than ever.

"Do you know that she has loved you all these years?"

Naruto's eyes widened in shock.

"It was you that she should be married to, not me. Get it now?"

And then there was utter silence hanging thick in the air. Finally it was the blond who break the silence first.

"I didn't know about her feelings then but even if I did, it was you whom she married. So don't you dare blame it on me or some shitty fate, Neji. Years of being a jinchuriki has taught me something. If life doesn't give you a happy ending, you have to fucking create one yourself."

Neji blinked and stared at his friend who suddenly stood towering before him like an ancient God. He lied there very still even long after the blond has left him alone. When he finally did get up to his feet, he knew where he should be heading to next.

Someday, he was going to repay that loud-mouth idiot with everything he got because he owed that idiot big time.

A month later, when Tenten received a letter from Konoha village, she burst into tears uncontrollably. A year later, she grinned widely when she received an invitation card from Konoha village. She rushed back to her hometown on the next day to attend her former teammate's baby full moon party. A beautiful baby boy has been born. He had his mother's gentle eyes and his father's angular jaw. They had named him Hyuuga Kazuki.

END

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><p>AN: Kazuki means "harmonious hope", at least that was what I googled on the net. By the way, if you are interested, you can read another companion fic "Deep RIver". Thanks for reading


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